The Weekly Harvest: Persistently optimistic

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Hey Folks, 
Happy Fall! What a season it has been, really all over the board and one for the record books both in terms of weather and many other things. As Farmers we have to be persistently optimistic about the season we are in and all the seasons ahead and I hope we can convey some of our abundant optimism to you and your family as we head into the fall and winter. Our hope is that the Farm is a bright spot for you and your family and one that provides deliciously fresh and nutritious seasonal food so that we can all celebrate the place we call home. 

We have fully embraced fall on the farm both with the crops coming in and our mentality. After the summer snowstorm that we had we have now had a number of light frosts on the farm and are always so glad to see them as they help to sweeten up all the fall greens and roots we have out in the fields. Wave goodbye to the summer tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants! 

The Farm Stand has been turned into a fall extravaganza of our assortment of heirloom pumpkins. These pumpkins and gourds are all edible (think pies, cookies, soups, etc.) and will be at home decorating your house until you decide to cook them up for Thanksgiving and other occasions. The Blue Hubbard Squash are the real winter champions here in that they should store very well in your home into the beginning of next year. We have set up a beautiful display of small, medium, and large heirloom pumpkins and it is what we are calling our "Heirloom Pumpkin Patch at the Farm Stand." So, put on your plaid and grab a mug of your choice beverage and come pick out some beautiful heirloom pumpkins. These will be at the Farm Stand only because well, there are a lot of them and they are very heavy as a load to take to Market with our limited space. Butternut and Kabocha Squash are still curing and will come out over the next few weeks. 

In other exciting news, we have decided to keep the Farm Stand open to the public as much as we can through the winter with any extra produce we have instead of going to the Winter Farmer's Market. This will be for purchase only (Cash, Credit, Check) as the Summer Share Credits expire on Oct 31st. We are not sure the exact days and hours of the Farm Stand this winter, but stay tuned for details! 

Your farmers are very much enjoying the sunny cooler days as we busily harvest for the week and the larger storage harvests for deep winter storage, clean up our fields from the summer crops and seed them to their winter cover crops. We keep an eye on the weather forecast these days even more than usual as we know that it can change in a heartbeat with a snowstorm and sudden temperature drops. The Fall hustle is underway to bring in the abundant harvest and get greens seeded in our tunnels for winter and spring harvests. 

Eat Local + Be Well, 
Nic and The Native Hill Farm Crew


This Week's Harvest:

  • Spinach

  • Arugula

  • Spicy Mix

  • Head Lettuce

  • Cherry Belle Radish 

  • Fall Hearty Radish Medley (see below) 

    •     Green, Purple, and White Daikon 

    •     Nero Tondo (Black Spanish)

    •     Watermelon Radish

  • Green Curly Kale

  • Red Chard

  • Hakurei Salad Turnips (Sweet Turnips)

  • Leeks

  • Savoy Cabbage (last week) 

  • Red and Green Cabbage at farm stand (limited)

  • Red Beets

  • Carrots (farm stand only)

  • Cauliflower (last week) 

  • Broccoli (last week) 

  • Radicchio (last week) 

  • Beefsteak Tomatoes (last week) 

  • Roma Tomato (last week or so)

  • Bulk Roma canning Tomato boxes (market & farm stand)

  • Walla Walla Sweet Onions

  • Heirloom Soft Neck Garlic

  • Red Potatoes

  • Mix Fingerling Potatoes

  • Yukon Gold Potatoes

  • Acorn Squash (last week?)

  • Spaghetti Squash (last week?)

  • Delicata Squash (last week?)

  • Pie Pumpkin Baby Pam

  • Heirloom Pie Pumpkin Winter Luxury

  • Heirloom Pumpkin Patch (see below-all edible and beautiful) (farm stand only) 

    •   Rougue Vif D'Etampes (aka Cinderlla pumpkin) 

    •   Musque de Provence 

    •   Long Island Cheese

    •   Blue Hubbard

    •   Winter Luxury and Baby Pam

Note: Store winter squash in your house or pantry (ideal temps at 50–60°F/10–15°C, with 50–70% relative humidity and good ventilation). If you are decorating with them outside, pull them inside if their will be a low below 40 degrees F.